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Different insulins

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Hi JimBear I went on the T2ONIC (type 2 on insulin course) earlier this year, it was spread over 4 weeks ( 1 afternoon per week) followed up with another afternoon 3 months later. I found it very useful and I now have a split basal dose and 3 bolus doses with my meals. My BG levels are now in the region of 5.0 - 8.0 most days. you soon get the hang of carb counting. I use the Carbs and Cals book which I find invaluable. good luck
 
If you have a smart phone you can download the carbs and calories app (which is very similar to the book but it updates and you can put your own foods in). For example I have a glass of kefir every day. I put in the carbs and calories for the amount I have and I could take a photograph of it so I can actually see what the amount I have calculated looks like. I find it very useful as my phone is with me all the time and less bulky than the book.
 
Thanks for the links Northerner - I will look through when my head is a little less frazzled.
Lilian - I hadn't realised the course was as short and comprehensive as that. For some daft reason I thought it was going to be something 3 hours in the middle of the day for a week or two. I will enquire about this with the nurse when I next speak with her 🙂
 
I'm petitioning someone to change the ruddy daft names of these courses, how about "how to use basal bolus", "how to control blood sugar with diet and activity", "how to get the best from mixed insulin regimes" 🙄 In terms of insulin, the basics are the same, insulin resistance might promote some slightly different challenges with timings and doses but essentially the key is you need to work out how much insulin your body needs without food, it needs a certain amount just to keep you alive and upright, so that's the basal insulin. Then there's the amount of insulin your body needs to deal with food. That's trial and error, so lots of people need 1 unit of insulin for 10g of carbs, so you count the carbs in your meal and if it's 50g of carb then you take 5 units (50 divided by 10), we call that a ratio, so that'd be 1:10. You're lucky if you have a 1:10 ratio because it's easy to divide by ten, but you'll likely not be that lucky🙂. Once you've got that sorted the more specific things like timing the dose and how fat levels impact on digestion of carbs come along with practice. The most frustrating bit at first is weighing and reading labels, and looking things up, but you get a feel for it after a while. I promise it really isn't hard, just a bit boring, and a bit like being in maths at school 😱 for a while.
 
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